Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
Welcome patrons, seat them at tables or in lounge, and help ensure quality of facilities and service.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Food Production
- Psychology
- Computers and Electronics
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Foreign Language
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Provide guests with menus.
- Greet guests and seat them at tables or in waiting areas.
- Receive and record patrons' dining reservations.
- Maintain contact with kitchen staff, management, serving staff, and customers to ensure that dining details are handled properly and customers' concerns are addressed.
- Inform patrons of establishment specialties and features.
- Supervise and coordinate activities of dining room staff to ensure that patrons receive prompt and courteous service.
- Assign patrons to tables suitable for their needs and according to rotation so that servers receive an appropriate number of seatings.
- Speak with patrons to ensure satisfaction with food and service, to respond to complaints, or to make conversation.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Enterprising, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Less than a High School Diploma (42% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (63.2%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (83.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 85% of occupations compared | 93% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 70% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 86% of occupations compared | 77% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 53% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 99% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 59% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 86% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 90% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 3.3%
- Occasional contact with others: 0.96%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 2.67%
- Constant contact with others: 93.07%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 18.21%
- Fairly important: 8.3%
- Important: 0.96%
- Very important: 6.85%
- Extremely important: 65.67%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 1.35%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 6.93%
- Very important: 14.82%
- Extremely important: 76.9%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.96%
- Very little freedom: 0.9%
- Limited freedom: 21.17%
- Some freedom: 35.11%
- A lot of freedom: 41.86%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 53.09%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 13.35%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 12.39%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.32%
- Every day: 15.85%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.98%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.24%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.83%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 35.25%
- Every day: 5.71%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 3.3%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.56%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.44%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 60.61%
- Every day: 6.09%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 30.09%
- Fairly serious: 54.78%
- Serious: 3.53%
- Very serious: 3.3%
- Extremely serious: 8.3%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 35-9031.00 · SOC 35-9031 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8